title: Imaging characteristics of primary intracranial teratoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Primary intracranial teratomas are rare intracranial neoplasms, and are subdivided into mature, immature, and those with malignant transformation. To date, only a few studies of teratoma imaging have been reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe and characterize the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in a series of 18 patients (16 men/boys and 2 women/girls; mean age, 14.5 years) with pathologically proven teratomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  Findings from medical records and imaging examinations in 18 patients with pathologically confirmed intracranial teratomas from 2001 to 2011 were retrospectively reviewed at our two institutions. Two radiologists evaluated the lesion location, shape, size, number, edge, homogeneous or heterogeneous appearance, attenuation, signal intensity, and degree of enhancement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All tumors were located within the pineal (n = 13), parasellar (n = 2), or suprasellar (n = 3) regions. The lesions appeared of mixed intensity on MRI, reflecting the histologic heterogeneity, including fibrosis, fatty tissue, calcification, cysts, and keratinocytes. In mature teratomas (n = 9), seven of nine tumors showed non-enhanced multilocularity or heterogeneous enhancement of the cyst wall on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted (T1W) images. Two of nine tumors showed moderate, heterogeneous enhancement in the solid portion of the lesion; whereas in immature (n = 7) or malignant transformation (n = 2) teratomas, heterogeneous, ring-like, intratumoral patchy enhancement was noted on T1W images with contrast.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Primary intracranial teratomas are usually localized in the pineal and the suprasellar regions, and often present an ovoid or lobulated mass with or without multilocularity on MRI. Marked enhancement of the solid portion or the thick wall of the tumor was the key feature for distinguishing mature teratoma and malignant teratoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhenyin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wensheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fuhong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xinjian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Songtao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Sristi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China qiushijun006@163.com.
authors.forename: Shijun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013724:Teratoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Teratoma; intracranial; magnetic resonance imaging